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Troy School District Science Curriculum

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Students learn important science concepts and develop the ability to think critically by actively constructing ideas through their own inquiries, investigations, and analyses. Students are actively engaged in the process of science as they explore the natural world.

Measurement, the process of quantifying observations, is one of the cornerstones of science. Measurement compares nature—the unknown—to a standard unit—the known. Through such comparison, the organization of the world becomes more comprehensive. The Measurement Module consists of four investigations, each designed to emphasize a particular type of metric measurement—length, mass, temperature, and volume.

Water is the most important substance on Earth. Water dominates the surface of our planet, changes the face of the land, and defines life. These powerful, pervasive ideas are introduced here. The Water Module consists of four investigations in which students explore properties of water, changes in water, interactions between water and other earth materials, and how humans use water.

The Earth, Moon, and Sun Module is designed to introduce students to objects we see in the sky. Students compare and contrast the characteristics of the Earth, Moon, and Sun as they investigate the relative motion of each.

The Structures of Life Module consists of four sequential investigations dealing with observable characteristics of organisms. Students observe, compare, categorize, and care for a selection of organisms, and in so doing they learn to identify properties of plants and animals and to sort and group organisms on the basis of observable properties. Students investigate structures of the organisms and learn how some of the structures function in growth and survival.

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Social Studies Curriculum

Troy School District Social Studies Curriculum

The third grade social studies curriculum focuses on regions. Students begin by examining regional communities in Michigan and then go on to explore the five regions of the United States. Students actively participate in inquiry-based lessons that emphasize knowledge of history, geography, economics, and political science as they compare and contrast the US regions. Third graders continue to expand their knowledge of citizenship as they further explore the core democratic values.

The regions we study in third grade are the Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, the Southwest and the West. Students virtually  tour each of these five regions via a different form of transportation, learning about the important historical, economic, civic and geographic signifigance of each region.